


En Da

by NYWCgirl



Category: MacGyver (TV 2016)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Western, Cairo Day 2020 (MacGyver TV 2016), Friendship, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Kidnapped, Major Character Injury
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-19
Updated: 2020-04-19
Packaged: 2021-03-01 20:21:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,788
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23733001
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NYWCgirl/pseuds/NYWCgirl
Summary: When Jack shoots a young Apache warrior, he doesn´t know what he got himself in to.
Comments: 4
Kudos: 26





	En Da

**Author's Note:**

> This ficlet was written for Cairo day 7 – prompt was ‘AU’ This is a western AU, the fic is inspired by the true story of Herman Lemann, who was kidnapped as a child by Apaches.

  
‘I’m telling you, sir, the Apaches are coming, we need to be prepared.’

‘Nonsense Dalton, them Indians never came this close to the fort. If you keep this up, ‘I’ll make sure I find an appropriate job for you. Remember, you are a Ranger, not army. You’re dismissed.’

Jack leaves the stifling office and takes a deep breathe once he is outside on the porch. He is sure the conflict in this part of Texas between the tribes and the settlers is going to escalate. He tried the warn the fort commander but it is clear he doesn´t share the idea. It worries Jack, he has seen too many of these conflicts turn into massacres.

But there isn´t much he can do if they won’t listen. He takes the reigns of his horse and rides back to his home. He is done for today, he tried his best.

* * *

All hell broke loose at dawn. Jack woke by the sound of cries and gunshots. He was up and about in minutes. On his way out the door, he grabbed his rifle and took a spot high up the watch tower to do his share in the defense of the fort.

Aiming, he pulls the trigger until he runs out of bullets. Picking up a second rifle someone put next to him, he takes aim on a young Apache warrior. The kid looks determined and fierce, the fact is, he remains a kid, barely old enough to be called a man. He has to stop him, so he lines up his gun and fires. It is a hit, when he sees the kid fall of his horse. With the kid out of his scope, he continues defending the fort.

It is only hours later that the soldiers are able to take stock of the situation. There are little casualties among the settlers, but the army who defends the fort took some serious hits.

Soldiers are ordered the saddle up and get scalps. Apache scalps fetch one hundred dollars, which is an awful lot of money. Jack finds it a cruel and unworthy habit but he is still a law man, so he saddles his horse and rides out, towards the young warrior he shot. It doesn´t take him long to find the boy but now that he is close, he can see the young chief is not Apache. To his surprise and horror, he notices the blond hair, there is some sort of clay covering it, making it look darker, but the kid is definitely Caucasian. He jumps of his horse and puts his hand on his chest, feeling the stuttering breath. The kid is still alive. The wound has stopped bleeding, probably the only reason the kid is still alive.

He has heard of children being abducted but never saw one before. He will need to get the kid somewhere safe. He picks up the boy and with some effort, he is able to get him on his horse. He can´t take him to the fort, they will probably lynch the kid. He mounts behind the boy and rides towards an adjacent small town. Stopping at the back door of a house he descends slowly pulling the boy with him of the horse.

Matty must have heard him, because she pushes open the door, ‘what brings you here, Dalton?’

It is clear she saw the beaded leather war skirt and moccasin boots.

‘I shot a kid during the raid this morning and when I got to him I noticed he isn´t Apache.’

Matty runs her fingers through the kid’s hair and looks as shocked as Jack thinks he must have looked when he found out.

‘Bring him in.’

Jack walks into the kitchen and puts his charge on the table. Now that the kid is sprawled out, Jack can see the choker he is wearing, there are shells and carved bone beads decorating the choker. The kid is fit and clearly well taken care of. He realizes the wound is again oozing blood. It probably reopened while the kid was hanging over his horse.

‘Jack, before we take the bullet out, you need to restrain him, we don´t want him waking up to this. We don’t know anything about him.’

She hands him some rope and he quickly ties the boy to the table. Matty hands him a glass of whiskey, ‘before you start digging in there, put your bowie knife in there, rinse it. And wash your hands, for God’s sake.’

Jack does as he is told and then makes a cut to get to the bullet. The boy’s eyes fly open but he does his best not to make any sound. Matty puts a whisky soaked rag between his teeth, so he won’t hurt himself biting down while Jack continues. She takes soothingly to the kid, explaining what they are doing. Jack quickly continues, whipping up the tip of his knife and the bullet comes with it.

Meanwhile Matty has boiled water and she dumps in a needle and a bobbin of thread. The kid is wide eyed and panting. His eyes show panic and pain.

‘It’s OK to pass out, kid.’ Jack smiles sadly when he sees the boy study him with tear filled eyes.

When Matty decides everything has been boiled enough, she retrieves everything from the pot and tells Jack to pour the remaining whiskey in the wound. Taking a big sip first, he dumps the glass over the wound. Groaning, the kid pulls on his restraints but if there is something Jack knows how to do, it is to tie something down. Matty quickly stitches up the wound and dresses it with some cotton cloth she wraps tightly around his torso with Jack´s help. Somewhere along the way the young warrior lost consciousness.

‘OK, let’s get him on the cot, we will have to see if infection sets in. We did everything we could for now.’

Jack lifts the limp body towards the cot in the corner of the room, while Matty cleans the table and floor.

‘OK, sit down Dalton and start talking. What happened?’

Matty puts down another glass of whiskey and sips on her own.

‘This morning there was a raid on the fort.’

‘Yeah I know, I heard.’

‘I shot the kid and when we went out to… well , never mind, I found the young warrior I shot. Noticing he was still alive. But when I looked closer, I saw that he wasn´t Apache at all.’

‘He must be one of those kids that got kidnapped during a raid. He looks healthy, so he has been taken care of.’

‘I’m sure the kid has one hack of a story to tell.’

* * *

Not totally unexpected, the kid develops a raging fever. Matty and Jack try to keep his temperature down but it seems a losing battle. During the day Jack goes back to the fort, doing his job. In the evening, he returns to Matty’s place so Matty can take of her saloon.

Mac tosses and turns, mumbling in Apache and some foreign English words, or so it sounds, Jack can´t understand them, but he knows enough Apache to know they are not Apache. Maybe Irish? Sometimes when the kid is a bit more lucid, he tries to spoon feed the kid some broth. He also tries to get some laudanum in him to keep the fever down. It relaxes the kid and he seems more at ease afterwards. He dunks a piece of cloth in a bucket of water, replacing the one on the boy’s forehead. The kid has to make it, he just has to. He wants to know what happened to him.

* * *

For the better part of five days, Matty and Jack tend to the young Apache before his fever finally breaks. It is some time during the night that Jack wakes. Being with the Texas Rangers heightened Jack’s senses. He stays still, listening to figure out what woke him. And then he realizes it is the boy.

‘Hey kid, you awake?’

He can see the boys stills, so he definitely is awake.

‘You’re safe kid, my name is Jack, what’s yours?’

When there is no reply, Jack turns the wheel on the oil lamp, brightening the room. The boy is clearly exhausted but also terrified. He starts talking frantically and even though Jack knows a bit of the language, it is too fast for him to understand everything. He asks what the boy’s name is.

‘En Da.’

En Da, it means White boy, so he was right. The kid is not Apache.

‘Were you taken from your family?’

The kids stares at him with tired eyes and Jack tells him to go to sleep and rest. There is enough time to get to know each other.

* * *

Jack is sitting on the porch with a cup of coffee when En Da stumbles on the porch. He jumps up, supporting the kid and leading him to the bench.

‘How are you feeling?’

The young warrior studies Jack, there is recognition in his eyes. Maybe he is starting to recognize English? Who knows?

He once again introduces himself, by pointing at his chest and saying his name, then pointing at the kid telling him his name. The boys nods, so he understands.

He makes a gesture to stay and says it in Apache, at which the kids looks in surprise at Jack, but he nods he understood. Jack walks inside and gets a glass of pre-boiled water and hands it to the kid with some bread. The boys nods his thanks and eats the offered food.

He counts it a success the kid didn’t try to kill him and run for his tribe as soon as he was able to.

* * *

‘Jack?

Jack turns around. En Da looks completely different. After Matty washed his hair, it turned out he is a natural blond. Living outdoors has even highlighted the blond. He must have stood out among the tribe members.

‘What’s up kid?’

‘Why?’

‘Why what?’

‘Why here?’

Jack smiles, ‘you were hurt kid. I couldn´t let you die.’

En Da seems to accept it. Of course he doesn´t know Jack was the one who shot him. Jack and Matty decided it is best he doesn´t know. Communication has been difficult. Over the weeks they developed this strange mixed language of Apache and English.

En Da’s wound is healing as it is supposed to but still Jack admires the boy’s toughness. It shouldn´t be a surprise. Apaches are not known to be harsh on their children, but they do raise fierce warriors. And En Da is a fine example, in the prime of his young life.

Jack has seen En Da interact with his horse and he is a natural. He also seems to be interested in about everything, learning, trying to figure things out, how they work, what they do. He is clearly highly intelligent and looks at everything in wonder.

Matty tried to get the kid to wear regular clothes, but he refused, wearing the buffalo skin war skirt every day.

‘Can you take her to the stable?’ Jack holds out the reigns and points towards the stables behind Matty’s house. Mac nods and takes Bell with him.

‘Jack, Is that you?’

Matty comes out, drying her hands on her apron.

‘Hey Matty, what’s up?’

‘I checked with the clerk in Raleigh and he did some digging.’

‘Did he find something?’

Matty smiles, ‘he sure did. A couple of years ago a boy was kidnapped when his dad abandoned him to go work for Pinkerton.’

‘What?’ Jack can’t believe what he is hearing. Who would leave his son to fend for himself? Where was his mom?’

‘She died when he was five. There are no living relatives to get the kid back to, well as far as we can tell, anyway.’

‘That’s just plane sad. Do you know his name?’

‘Yeah, it’s Angus Macgyver.’

‘Scottish, hum?’

That explains the strange English.

* * *

When Mac is healed enough to ride a horse without fear of popping his stiches, Jack takes Mac with him. They ride to Raleigh after Jack convinced the kid to wear jeans and a plaid shirt, promising he could change once they are back home. When they enter the village, Jack can see Mac studying it. He’s not sure whether or not Mac recognizes anything, but he hopes he does. People are watching them but hat can also be because of his Ranger badge, or so he hopes and not because of Mac´s long braided hair. It is in full display since he refused to wear a Stetson.

They stop at city hall, where they are welcomed by a clerk.

‘Good afternoon, my name is Jack Dalton, Mathilda Webber informed you?’

‘Yeah, Mathilda said you would stop by. You are looking for information?’

‘Yes, I was wondering what you know about the kidnapping of a boy named Angus Macgyver?’

‘Yeah, Mathilda let me know, so I did some research. I must say, an interesting case.’

The man walks back to the books that are stacked high. He starts putting some to the side until he has what he is looking for, ‘here it is, Angus Macgyver, male child to James Macgyver and Ellen Jackson. He was born on March 23rd 1859\. His mother died in 1864. Jack looks at Mac and can see it stirs something in the boy.’

He puts his hand on Mac’s shoulder, giving him non-verbal support. He wasn´t sure if it would be appreciated, but Mac doesn’t shake his hand off, so he guess he welcomes the support. The clerk hasn´t noticed, to engrossed in his findings.

‘The boy was taken on May 16th 1870 by a raiding party of ten Apaches, while he was in the fields at his grandfather’s request to scare the birds from the wheat. Four days later, the Apache raiding party encountered a patrol of cavalrymen who had been sent from Fort McKavett to recover the boy. After a short battle, the Apache fled with young Angus.’

Jack can see Mac remembers.

‘They told me they killed my entire family.’ Mac whispers.

Jack pulls Mac into a bear hug, ‘they probably said that so you wouldn´t try to escape.’

It only dawns on the clerk now who he has in front of him, ‘wait, you’re Angus Macgyver.’

‘My name is En Da. And I’m petty chief.’ Mac pronounces with pride in his voice.

The clerk looks insecure towards Jack, not knowing what to do or say. So Jack intervenes.

‘Do you know what happened to the Macgyver clan?’

‘No, we don´t. There are no whereabouts known for James Macgyver and as for the grandfather, Harry Jackson. He died soon after the kidnapping.’

Mac has a sad look in his eyes, but as a young warrior, he has learned to keep his emotions under control.

‘Well, Thank you for the information.’ Jack says politely.

The man turns to Mac, ‘no thanks. You man, are a fucking legend, kid.’

* * *

Epilogue

Jack walks out to the porch with his cup of coffee. Mac is in the corral, breaking in a new mustang. Turns out he is a natural, having grown up as an Apache, he is in total sync with nature. He has a respect for all living things, unlike most people Jack knows. Jack has learned a lot since Mac moved in with him. They make a killer team as trackers. Mac has an impeccable track record. AT home Jack still calls him by his Apache name, but when they are out among people, it’s Mac.

Jack is pulled from his thoughts when the mustang gallops angrily towards Mac. Jack wants to shout a warning but refrains when he sees Mac stands his ground. He knows what he is doing. The horse comes to a stop in a cloud of dust just before Mac. He says something to the horse, Jack can´t understand., but he can see the ears of the horse move. It’s listening. Mac extends his hand and puts it on the horse’s face. Jack looks in awe, he still isn’t used to how natural it comes to Mac. The kid walks next to the horse and puts his hand on the horse’s back, the other grabbing the manes, and with a supple jump, Mac is on the horse. It doesn´t buck him off and when Mac says something, the horse starts to walk around the corral, Mac notices Jack and waves. Jack waves back seeing the kid smile. Jack can’t be more proud of the kid.


End file.
